Salaries of Elected Officials

SB15-288, regarding salaries of elected officials, is currently awaiting the Governor’s signature.  If signed, it would allow a pay raise for the Governor, Attorney General, State Treasurer, Secretary of State, members of the General Assembly, and some elected county officials.  The pay raises would not go into effect, however, until January 1, 2019, by which time the Governor and many of the current legislators will have been termed out of office.  Currently, legislators make $30,000 per year with an additional per diem; the Governor brings in $90,000 and the Attorney General earns $80,000.  According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, the legislative salary is about average among the fifty states but the executive officials’ salaries are on the low end of the fifty states.  SB 288, if signed by the governor, will change the salary structure for elected officials to make them adjustable for inflation, similar to the way Judicial Department salaries are currently structured. 

The bill was developed with recommendations of the County Elected Officials Salary Commission; see their January 2014 Report to the General Assembly here.  This is far from the first such commission — over the years, the Colorado government has dealt with this issue a number of times.  In our library you can find historical reports of past commissions, including the reports of:

Search our library’s web catalog for other reports on salaries and compensation.